Stephen
If the prior album, "To Hell With The Devil", shown Stryper in its heavy form, "In God We Trust" was changed to a more radio-friendly pop-metal based album. Original bassist, Tim Gaines, also left the band after "Devil" and didn't play on this album, however he rejoined the team while they're on tour. The change of direction in this album infuriated many fans that still wanting them to stick to the true heavy metal side and not being commercial, but in my opinion, "In God We Trust" is still as strong as ever, couple of weak tracks, but overall a solid album. The furious riffs, the ultra scream, the guitar duel, the harmonic background chant, they're all still there.
The anthemic title track is still a great sign of the idealistic Stryper, an uptempo marching chorus with Sweet/Fox's fantastic alternating solos. "The Writings On The Wall" has a darker edge and a nice chorus, this one is an underrated classic. "Always There For You" and "The World of You And I" are couple mid-tempo commercial-driven melodic rock. "I Believe In You" is a wonderful short piano ballad with Michael Sweet's beautiful tenor vocal. "Come To The Everlife" is the weakest link of the album I guess.
"In God We Trust" isn't as bad as it seems, in fact, it's pretty much enjoyable if you can accept a commercial blending inside a heavy metal piece. This is the last album with the same style before they went on a different direction in "Against The Law" and I still consider this as one of their strongest catalogue to date.
Bottomline : The God's soldiers still hold the ground!